Buckcherry disses direction

<p>By Stephen Centanni

Music editor

<p>Buckcherry has spent their time in the spotlight playing by their own rules and pushing all who oppose them to the side. Despite songs dedicated to snorting coke and praising women for superb sex, mainstream radio has kept Buckcherry in heavy rotation.

Having just wrapped up a stint on the Crue Fest tour with (of course) Motley Crue, the guys in Buckcherry have made promoting their latest album "Black Butterfly" a priority. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with lead guitarist and founding member Keith Nelson, and he was more than happy to give me the skinny on the new album and what exactly makes Buckcherry tick (besides rocking and raising hell).

<p>SC: One thing that I think is so unique about your band is that you&amp;#8217;ve been able to maintain your outlaw status and still get played on mainstream radio, which is rare these days. What is it about Buckcherry that allows y&amp;#8217;all to be outlaws and still get heard on the radio?

KN: We don’t take direction very well, and we have a complete problem with authority. You know, I think we do things the way we want to do it, and that’s all we’re really concerned with. We’re concerned with the five of us being happy with the records that we make and the way we go about. We know that there’s a certain segment of the population that will go along with that. For those of them who don’t, well, f*ck ‘em!

<p>SC: I saw where you did Crue Fest this summer. How was that?

KN: It was actually a really good experience. It was a great tour with a lot of great bands. It was really good for us to get out there and play some new material and get reacquainted with our fans after so long.

<p>SC: Speaking of the new record, &amp;quot;Black Butterfly&amp;quot; is on the shelves after a year of production. What was it like trying to get this monster out?

KN: It actually wasn’t that difficult. We came off the road last October, and we wrote a lot and kept writing and kept writing. The actual recording was fast. We did the record in 21 days, but the writing phase with pre-productions and rehearsals was a time consuming thing. All things considered, if we started in October, and this hit the shelves September 16, it’s not really all that long. We’re pretty happy with the way that process went.

<p>SC: How do think the fans are going to react to the new record?

KN: I think that anybody who was expecting us to play it safe and make the same record again is going to be sadly disappointed. I think that anybody that wants to hear a real rock-and-roll band make a real rock-and-roll record will be pleasantly surprised.

<p>SC: I read where you guys won&amp;#8217;t be including the title track to the album, even though it was one of your favorites. When will the fans get to hear that one?

KN: You know, I think that we’re kinda talking right now about what to do with some of the B-sides that didn’t make the record. They could show up anywhere. You never know!

<p>SC: I was watching the video for &amp;quot;Too Drunk&amp;#8230;&amp;quot; the other day-the unedited one, I might add, and I kept noticing something different about some of the footage spliced in. Was that actual footage from backstage?

KN: I don’t know exactly which version of that video that you’re referring to. There’s a couple of different of versions of that video floating around. I know that some of the folks at Playboy Lounge are handling some of the girls and some of the talent, so there’s that one floating around. There’s also a version that’s like us roaming around from behind the scenes stuff. So, there’s a couple of different ones out there, but all of them are great.

<p>SC: What can the BayFest crowd expect from your live show?

KN: Five guys throwing down on stage doing what we do best and loving our jobs and being really grateful that we get to do this for a living.